I don't really know how deeply involved Keepnews was in the corrupt practices of his label co-owner, who was the business side. It might be true that strong control over "Artists and Repertoire" (thus the term "AR man") by someone other than the artist (often the producer) can lead to greater sales and popularity, and that leaving an artist in total control of his work may lead to obscurity. But I still favor giving artists total control of recording.
As an example, an artist I know told me she was ripped off (not paid) by almost every label she had been on. Concord records pressed her first Maybeck Recital Hall cd twice and all she ever got was a fee up front for the performance and a box of cds. She got smart and started requesting cds as payment for any label she was on and sold them at her gigs. It wasn't a lot but at least she got something for her work.
Has anyone compared the 1997 JVC-XRCD to the 2017 MFSL vinyl of Sunday at the Village Vanguard? I know they're disparate formats, but what if they're not?
I was just realizing that there are extremely few people under 55 who have ever seen Bill Evans perform.
Here’s an interesting LP that Bill Evans appeared as sideman in a quartet led by Eddie Costa, also a pianist and on this album, on vibes. I really like Eddie Costa as a pianist. He died in 1962, but seemed to be friends with Bill Evans — they were both around the same age and race, both from the NE, and both had older brothers who were big influences. Anybody know anything about their relationship?
That is what serious record collectors call a special signed copy. Signed by the person who owned it.
What music might have been created if Miles had coaxed Evans to stay another year or two, but still encouraged Evans to do his trio as well
Miles Davis: "Bill left the band in 1958 and went down to Louisiana to live with his brother. Then he came back after a while and formed his own group. After a while he got Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums and he became very popular with that group, winning a number of Grammy Awards. He was a great little pianist, but I don't think he ever sounded as good after that as he did when he played with me." According to Paul Motian, Miles Davis was scheduled to record an album with the Bill Evans Trio. Sadly, these plans were cancelled when Scott LaFaro died in a car accident.
Countless posthumous releases. I'm referring to the non official ones. Some should have been kept away, bust most of them are surprisingly good. These two are among this first ones I got. This one is very curious due to the recording location: The performance on this one is great, sound quality very good also:
Was the Half Moon Bay disc recorded at Bach, Dance & Dynamite Society? It's a cool little club on the beach. I've been there but not for Bill unfortunately.
As a side man, it's hard to top Kind Of Blue.... but, even though this isn't technically "side man" since its duo, his duo albums with Jim Hall (Undercurrent, Intermodulation) are some of my favorites.
I think Half Moon Bay was an official Milestone release. (However, another Bill Evans CD on Milestone I bought around that time titled Homecoming sounded like it was sourced from a bootleg recording.)
I read a couple of months ago that Bill Evans and Glen Gould were not o lying friends but that they used the same piano to record "Everybody digs Bill Evans" and the Goldberg Variations, respectively. Pianos here have a big, huge importance. Perhaps people from the classical tbreads/ forums could let us know.
That is a story over Steinway, IIRC when they both were the Steinway artists and the Bill’s album was Conversation with Myself.
I can't bring much to the discussion here, but I have an interesting observation from Jim Hall, from a late interview. He said that when Bill wanted Jim to comp behind a solo, Bill would put his left hand to rest altogether so as to not clutter up the harmonic backgound. I haven't checked if this principle applies to this particular album or not. Just thought I'd mention the Jim Hall comment about their duo collaboration.
He did it (resting his left hand) in Russell’s Band playing "Concerto for Billy The Kid” on which he played his solo completely with his right hand only.
